Ruth Reichl

As executive producer, Ruth Reichl brings to Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie the unparalleled passion and world-renowned culinary expertise that she exhibits as editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. Working with WGBH and Zero Point Zero Productions, Ruth helps shape the provocative food stories that make up the series, bringing the flavor of the magazine into each episode. As a contributing on-air talent, Ruth, along with her team of renowned editors, offers a unique look inside the magazine’s New York City test kitchens, to show viewers how they can bring fantastic finds from the international food landscape into their own homes.

Ruth joined Gourmet magazine as editor in chief in April 1999. She came to the magazine from The New York Times, where she had been the restaurant critic since 1993. As chef and co-owner of The Swallow Restaurant from 1974 to 1977, she played a part in the culinary revolution that took place in Berkeley, Calif. In the years that followed, she served as restaurant critic for New West and California magazines. In 1984, she became restaurant critic of the Los Angeles Times, where she was also named food editor.

Ruth began writing about food in 1972, when she published Mmmmm: A Feastiary. Since then, she has authored the critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires, which have been translated into 14 languages. She is the editor of The Modern Library Food Series, which currently includes 10 books. She has also written the introductions for Nancy Silverton’s Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur (1996) and Measure of Her Powers: An M.F.K. Fisher Reader (2000). She is featured on the cover of Dining Out: Secrets from America’s Leading Critics, Chefs and Restaurants, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (1998). She is the editor of Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet, Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet, and The Gourmet Cookbook, released September 2004. Her lecture, “Why Food Matters,” delivered in October 2005, will be published in The Tanner Lectures On Human Values, Volume 28, in 2006. History in a Glass: Sixty Years of Wine Writing from Gourmet (Modern Library), which she also edited, was published in March of 2006.

Ruth hosted Eating Out Loud, three specials on the Food Network, covering New York (2002), San Francisco (2003), and Miami (2003). She is a regular host with Leonard Lopate for a live monthly food show on WNYC radio in New York.

Ruth has been honored with four James Beard Awards (two for restaurant criticism, in 1996 and 1998; one for journalism, in 1994; and Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, 1984) and with numerous awards from the Association of American Food Journalists. She is also the recipient of the YWCA’s Elizabeth Cutter Morrow Award. She holds a bachelor of arts degree and a master's degree in art history from the University of Michigan.